Chandhok: Hispania to rotate drivers

HRT driver Karun Chandhok has said that he respects the decision of the team to replace him with Sakon Yamamoto for the German Grand Prix, and went on to say that the Hispania team will continue to rotate its drivers for the rest of the season.

After Bruno Senna was relieved of his race seat for the British Grand Prix, rumours began to circulate about a dispute between him and Colin Kolles. However, since then, it has emerged that the team needs sponsorship money, which has since resulted in Chandhok pushed aside for Yamamoto for next week’s German GP.

Both Chandhok and Senna will be forced to rotate their driver seats with Yamamoto and Klien

It has been revealed that Yamamoto will appear more times across the year, with other test driver Christian Klien also making an appearance somewhere down the line. Karun, however, was not downbeat, saying:

“The team have taken the decision that they’re going to rotate
drivers between the four of us that are on contracts with the
team.
At the end of the day we’re not fighting for the World
Championship or for points and, with the current testing
regulations, it’s quite difficult for them to evaluate
drivers during a season.
All four of us are Superlicence drivers, so we can’t do the
young driver days at the end of the season, and we also
missed the pre-season testing.
It’s a team decision and I’ve got to respect that.”

The problem is that neither Senna or Chandhok had any idea this would happen at the start of the season. It’s very unfair on them, as they have been forced to deal with a dog of a car without any testing. While Klien and Yamamoto both have personal sponsors to bring money to the team, it will cost them a huge amount of time in the development race.

Just look at Minardi for inspiration as to how to run a small F1 team. They resisted using pay drivers, produced a future world champion (Alonso), and were famous for years of fighting away at the back. HRT is as far away as they could get, as they rotate drivers just to stay afloat.

If HRT continue to use pay drivers into next season, I’m afraid to say that they will never get away from the back of the field.